Sunday, April 27, 2014

#Wikidata - Mr J. Djanogly, MP for Huntingdon

The electoral system of the UK, the USA and India have in common that they work with "constituencies" or "electoral districts". At election time one constituency chooses one representative and Mr Djanogly is the representative for Huntingdon.since 2001 succeeding Mr John Major.

As you can expect, Wikidata knows about the districts and the persons involved. That does not mean that it brings things together. Neither for Mr Major nor Mr Djanogly it was known that they held the office of an MP nor was it known that they represented Huntingdon.

This type of election is personal; at election time it matters who the candidate is. A candidate may run repeatedly. This is quite different in a representative system where people vote for parties and where nobody in particular represents a specific area.

Mr Major and Mr Djanogly are now registered as MP in Wikidata. The challenge is how to include the elections and representatives in constituencies like Huntingdon. Obviously a lot of work needs to be done to mark every MP for the office that he or she held.
Thanks,
GerardM